The seventh Rome Film Festival bows in arthouse mode with Russian epic “Waiting for the Sea,” the magic realist ode to man’s will to resist, serving as a fitting analogy to new fest topper Marco Mueller’s plight as he came under fire from the Italian press for turning the event into an overly elitist affair.

“Waiting” helmer, producer Karl Baumgartner and the cast walked Rome’s red carpet, which is flanked this year by historic Cinecitta Studios setpieces, including an Egyptian god from Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s “Cleopatra” and a Greco-Roman statue from Ridley Scott’s “The Gladiator.”

Related

Meanwhile, the former Venice topper was criticized by leading daily Corriere Della Sera and other local outlets for choosing to “change the (Rome) festival and not himself,” as Corriere put it in an editorial titled “Testing ground for elitist choices,” which noted that from its outset Rome has had a more mainstream focus than the Lido.

Sign Up for Breaking News Alerts

ROME The seventh Rome Film Festival bows in arthouse mode with Russian epic “Waiting for the Sea,” the magic realist ode to man’s will to resist, serving as a fitting analogy to new fest topper Marco Mueller’s plight as he came under fire from the Italian press for turning the event into an overly elitist […]

ROME The seventh Rome Film Festival bows in arthouse mode with Russian epic “Waiting for the Sea,” the magic realist ode to man’s will to resist, serving as a fitting analogy to new fest topper Marco Mueller’s plight as he came under fire from the Italian press for turning the event into an overly elitist […]

ROME The seventh Rome Film Festival bows in arthouse mode with Russian epic “Waiting for the Sea,” the magic realist ode to man’s will to resist, serving as a fitting analogy to new fest topper Marco Mueller’s plight as he came under fire from the Italian press for turning the event into an overly elitist […]

ROME The seventh Rome Film Festival bows in arthouse mode with Russian epic “Waiting for the Sea,” the magic realist ode to man’s will to resist, serving as a fitting analogy to new fest topper Marco Mueller’s plight as he came under fire from the Italian press for turning the event into an overly elitist […]

ROME The seventh Rome Film Festival bows in arthouse mode with Russian epic “Waiting for the Sea,” the magic realist ode to man’s will to resist, serving as a fitting analogy to new fest topper Marco Mueller’s plight as he came under fire from the Italian press for turning the event into an overly elitist […]

ROME The seventh Rome Film Festival bows in arthouse mode with Russian epic “Waiting for the Sea,” the magic realist ode to man’s will to resist, serving as a fitting analogy to new fest topper Marco Mueller’s plight as he came under fire from the Italian press for turning the event into an overly elitist […]

ROME The seventh Rome Film Festival bows in arthouse mode with Russian epic “Waiting for the Sea,” the magic realist ode to man’s will to resist, serving as a fitting analogy to new fest topper Marco Mueller’s plight as he came under fire from the Italian press for turning the event into an overly elitist […]